GM’s Launch of ’14 Silverado Pickup Stalls Out

December 10, 2013 by RVBusinessComments Off on GM’s Launch of ’14 Silverado Pickup Stalls Out

2014 Chevrolet Silverado

When General Motors launched its new 2014 Chevy Silverado pickup — and its near-twin, the GMC Sierra — it was hoping to reach parity with industry leader Ford Motor Co.

According to a Motley Fool report, Ford’s F-Series trucks have been the best selling nameplate in the U.S. for decades, but combined, the Silverado and Sierra have been right behind the F-Series in sales volume. Unfortunately, thus far the new trucks haven’t had the desired effect on sales.

Instead, GM’s desire to raise average transaction prices, along with Ford’s targeted use of incentives, have actually allowed Ford to gain market share at the expense of the 2014 Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra.

GM executives have repeatedly stated that everything is fine with the new pickup launch. However, the 2014 Chevy Silverado’s sales numbers have been nothing to write home about. In November, GM sold 34,386 Silverados and 14,362 Sierras, for a total of 48,748 full-size pickups, up 15% year-over-year .

That sales gain doesn’t look nearly as good when you consider that GM had a terrible month for pickup sales in November 2012 . Furthermore, Ford — which had a strong sales performance last November — put together another solid gain, with F-Series sales up 16.5% last month.

In fact, Ford has now posted seven straight months of selling at least 60,000 F-Series pickups . This has allowed it to win back all of the market share it lost to GM earlier this year, and then some.

In November specifically, Ford sold 65,501 F-Series trucks — 34% more than GM’s total (combining Silverado and Sierra). Looking back over the last four months in total, Ford has outsold GM in the full-size pickup market by more than 20%.